5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I like to think of formula 1 as being your textbook/CFI formula and formula 2 as the real-life use case.

Remember, you're looking to find the actual cash flowing into the business. You take your operating profit with the non-cash add-backs, and minus off the tax that was actually paid off. Further subtract your capex and the changes in NWC and you get to your cash flow.

I've only ever really used formula 1 as an undergrad if for whatever reason I couldn't find the exact tax paid out each year.

 

Thank you, do I understand correctly that EBITDA - actual taxes paid + non-cash add backs is a proxy for cash flow from operations? i.e if I have access to the cash flow statement of a company, instead of using the formula above, shall I take the cash flow from operations reported by the company and substrat capex to get to FCF?

 

UFCF don’t include one time expenses, so you don’t include any one time non cash if that’s what you’re asking. If you’re asking if you add back non cash like depreciation no you do not. The actual tax paid in cash includes the cost savings from depreciation so you don’t need to add back anything.

It’s just EBITDA - Tax Paid in cash - change in WC - Capex

If it’s levered free cash flows it’s EBITDA - Interest Cash - Tax Cash - change in WC - Capex -/+Change in debt repayments (if the pay down is more than the drawdown you subtract, if it’s less, than you add the difference between pay down and credit facility drawdown).

 

Thank you for the formulas of Unlevered FCF and Levered FCF.

I am preparing for a HF case study for which I need to build a simple CF statement starting from EBITDA. I am not sure which formula to use.

I was thinking of using the following formula:
Free Cash Flow from Operations reported by the company - Capex (which gives what I call FCF, and which seems to be different from Unlevered and Levered FCF) - M&A expenses - Dividends - Share Buybacks + Capital raise = change in net debt. Can you confirm if this is the right approach please or if I should use the Unlevered / Levered FCF formulas instead?

Second step of the case study is to calculate FCF yield as % of equity. Would it be correct to use my definition of FCF divided by market cap?

Thank you very much for your help

 

Magnam aut beatae suscipit et non dolorum. Quia in animi optio nihil quis voluptas. Repellendus eos reiciendis inventore autem dolor.

Rerum sunt earum dolor eius fugit quasi eum. Praesentium sit quod officia error accusantium enim. In rerum ratione laudantium mollitia veniam sapiente fuga aliquid. Et non qui enim itaque qui assumenda sit. Dignissimos autem pariatur voluptatem nulla sed sed ut. Recusandae alias impedit necessitatibus eveniet veritatis qui quo.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”